


And We'll Do It All Together

by darkofthemorning



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Best Friends, Bucket List, Dreams, F/M, Friendship, Ice Skating, Real Life, Skating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-04-11 22:09:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19118665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkofthemorning/pseuds/darkofthemorning
Summary: Now that they've reached the end of their amateur skating career, there's a lot of things Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir can finally do with their increased freedom. And what better way to tackle them than with a co-created bucket list?





	1. #1: Make a Bucket List

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea in my head for a while now and it's been rally cool to see it all come together to become a reality. I'm really excited to see where this story goes, hopefully somewhere good.
> 
> And please don’t be intimidated by the chapter count, it isn’t as scary as you think.
> 
> I'm also hoping that I don't take 10 years to update this one like I am with Delicate (yo ok like I'm really sorry, I swear I'm working real hard on birthing an update before the end of the month).

**_May 29, 2019_ **

 

**_John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, USA_ **

**_5:12 AM, EST_ **

Early mornings are not for everyone.

Especially not for Tessa Virtue.

You would think that after two decades of extra early mornings, laborious nights, and the unpredictable hours that stretched in between, it would have gotten much easier for her  

function at the strangest hours of the day on rather limited sleep.

But, she never really got used to it.

She thinks that it only got worse as she got older.

Luckily for Tessa, they’ve finally boarded the plane and made their way to their seats in the business class section. Now that they’re settled and waiting for departure, her in the window seat and him just to her left, she figures it’s safe for her to recline her seat a little, really quietly unwrap that crisp, complimentary pillow, let her green eyes flutter shut—

“Tess! Tess! You know what we should do?”

At least one of them is feeling awake right now.

“What?” The question is muffled by her pillow, the vowel dragging out in utter annoyance. But he must choose to ignore it because he doesn’t hesitate to continue to voice whatever idea he had swirling in his mind at this ungodly hour.

“We should make a bucket list.”

Tessa shoots up in her seat, twisting her body to face the man beside her.

“Oh my God, Scott, you cannot be serious right now.”

“I’m dead serious. Making a bucket list is number one on my bucket list.”

Tessa groans, rolling her eyes at Scott’s ridiculously wide smile. Sometimes, she wonders how on earth she’s been able to put up with him for nearly 22 years.

But most of the time, she’s glad to have him by her side.

Not this time, though.

Scott lets out a taunting chuckle. “Stop being grumpy.”

“I am _not_ grumpy.”

“Yeah, yeah, alright.” He waves his hand in dismissal.

Tessa scoffs and brings the heels of her palms to her eyes, pressing down forcefully until stars swirl in the darkness and the discomfort wakes her up. She’s always been jealous of Scott’s energy, how he manages to act so lively and positive when she knows he would rather be at home with his family or with his girlfriend or even just asleep alone. Because unlike Scott, Tessa knows it’s obvious when she’s just not feeling it.

“Isn’t it kinda late to be starting a bucket list? Isn’t that something that, like, 17-year-olds do? Not grown 30- and 31-year-old adults?”

“Why are you aging me? I’m 17 at heart.”

“Oh, you got that right.”

“Hey!”

Tessa snorts. “You said it, not me.”

“Whatever.”

“Of all the ways you could spend your time on a plane, you want to make a _bucket list_? Are you not exhausted? It’s, what,” Tessa quickly glances at her phone. “5:17? That’s sleep time.”

Scott appears to contemplate this for a moment before frowning and shrugging his shoulders, and Tessa snarkily arches her brow as if to say ‘I told you so.’

“Come on, T. This will be so fun. We aren’t competing anymore, we’re only skating in a couple shows a year, tour planning is only during the fall...I think we have the time for it. Why not?”

“Between my travelling everywhere for sponsorships, finishing my degree, and wanting to get my MBA and you wanting to coach full-time and wanting to start a family, do you really think it’s possible to complete a shared bucket list? Not only are our lives so different, but have you _seen_ a child?” Tessa builds an imaginary list on her dainty fingertips. “They aren’t easy. They’re needy. They always need attention. They take up all of your time—”

Scott holds his hands up to stop her. “Woah-hoah, okay. I get it. I forgot how much you hate kids.”

“Hey, I _do not_ hate kids.”

“All I ask is that you at least make my future kids an exception to your hatred.”

If it were anyone else, they’d be writhing under Tessa’s fiery glare. But Scott easily brushes it off.

“Come on, you can’t deny that a bucket list would be fun. We’ve spent our entire lives in rinks and gyms and on planes. And the planes aren’t even taking us on vacation, just to more work. I think we deserve to live a little now, don’t you think?”

“I mean, yeah, but—”

“Absolutely no buts. We’re doing this. Let’s say we tackle one thing every year. If we have 100 things—”

“Wow, we’re living until 130? Wow! I’m so excited. Think we’ll have flying cars by then?”

“Ugh, shut up. You know I didn’t mean ‘one thing a year’ literally.” Scott brings his hands to his face.

Tessa smirks and mentally pats herself on the back for her remark. But, she also can’t deny that part of his reasoning is right.

There are so many things that she’s wanted to do her whole life, but never got the chance because of skating. The sport consumed all of her time, making itself at home in all the spaces where the _living_ should have been. She loves skating, and always has, but the intensity of the training overrode her ability to do all the things her friends could do: have sleepovers, go to clubs and concerts, travel 100% for fun, have quirky hobbies, and so much more.

With countless honourable titles up her sleeve, it’s not like she hasn’t achieved anything. Most 30-year olds could only _dream_ to do what she has. So, maybe she does deserve to live a little, especially after all these years of hard work.

She takes a deep breath before speaking. “Well...what if we have 50 things? 100 is a bit excessive anyway—for _anyone_ —in my opinion.”

Scott immediately whips his head to his right, pure excitement sparking in his hazel eyes as they lock with Tessa’s jade ones.

To her, the brown morphs into liquid gold in the delicate rays of the rising sun.

“So you want to do it?”

“I guess.” Tessa makes sure that she sighs as dramatically as possible, dragging out the ‘s’ in that way she knows Scott hates.

But his eagerness completely downs out her jab at him.

The one thing about their friendship that she can’t tell if she loves or hates is how easily the feelings of one transfer to the other. In this case, Scott’s excitement is undeniably contagious, and Tessa can’t help the smile slowly spreading across her face as he registers what she’s just agreed to. There are very few things she loves as much as seeing Scott happy. He knows, hell, _everyone_ knows she would do anything to keep him happy. She absolutely hates seeing him sad or angry or stressed.

But that’s the other thing: while it’s great when their happiness can be shared, it’s so awful when they feel each other’s negativity. When Tessa’s stressed, Scott feels it too. If he’s going through a rough patch, she carries it with her. They are each others’ rock in the good times and the bad. She’s never had someone like Scott in her life, not even her brothers or her mother or Jordan.

He’s just different.

And she never wants to lose that.

After all, there’s only one Scott Moir.

“We should try to brainstorm what to add. What are some things you’ve always wanted to do, T? Like, anything. Something you wanted to try but training always got in the way? Somewhere you wanted to go? What about—”

Tessa takes a long sip of her coffee as Scott rambles on.

They left the hotel at 1:30 AM to be sure that they arrived at JFK no later than 3:45 AM. Scott thought that there would be no problem with leaving much later (“What’s the point of getting to the airport almost two hours before the plane leaves? You rarely board even half an hour before departure.”) but Tessa insisted that being early was better than being late, especially if there was random traffic or the airport was busy or something went wrong at any point.

And Tessa always wins.

But now, she’s wishing Scott would have won that debate. Tessa assumed that she would have been able to sleep on the ride over, but her nap was short-lived; by the time she closed her eyes, Scott was lightly tapping her arm to tell her they had arrived at the airport. 2:20 AM was when the car pulled up to the entrance, and their plane didn’t leave until 5:30 AM.

So, once they found some seats in one of the waiting areas, Tessa told Scott to wake her up when they announced their plane was boarding and took a power nap on his shoulder.

She wonders what he did during the time she was asleep.

The last couple of weeks have been so busy, travelling from Spain to Toronto to Newfoundland and then to New York for an event they were invited to with fairly short notice.

She half regretted accepting the invite because exhaustion was etched so deeply into her eyes now that even her thickest concealer can’t erase it. But, she also hates turning people down, and it _did_ fit just perfectly into their schedule in between the end of the Great Kitchen Party and their flight to Japan for Fantasy on Ice.

Honestly, she just can’t wait to be back home, in her own bed.

Just a few more weeks to go.

“ _Tessa_.”

She jumps, nearly spilling her coffee on herself. “Hm?”

“You weren’t listening.” Scott says this matter-of-factly, in no way laced with irritation or bitterness.

“I know. Sorry.”

He sighs in a sort of defeat. “How about we sleep until our layover, and then go from there. You’re clearly ready to pass out again. I can see it on your face”

“No, it’s okay. I’m pretty much awake now.” Tessa brushes of his remark, attempting to act as though there was nothing she wanted to do more at 5:23 AM than be awake.

“No you’re not.” Scott squints over at her.

“I’m feeling great.”

“You look like you’ve been hit by a bus.”

“Hey, that was pretty rude, even to me.”

“Okay, okay, sorry. But you really can’t lie to someone you’ve known for 70 percent of your life. It’s pointless.”

“Ugh, I hate when you do that.”

“Too bad.”

She softly slaps his arm. “Shut up, I’m trying to sleep over here.”

The last thing Tessa remembers before falling deeply into her dreams is the small smile that played at the corners of her lips at the sound of Scott’s deep, loud laughter.

 

**_Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, USA_ **

**_8:47 AM, PDT_ **

Scott almost didn’t want to wake up Tessa once the plane landed in Seattle six hours later; she looked so at peace. He always wondered how she looked so good while she slept, like how the actresses do in the movies. It was too perfect, just completely unrealistic. Yet somehow, she managed to do it.

Although this time, he couldn’t help but notice the awkward angle in which she fell asleep at. Though her expression was still quite peaceful, just looking at the way she was contorted made _his_ body ache: she was slumped into the right corner of the seat, though her head was resting against the left side, face turned up towards the ceiling of the aircraft.

But, it did look kind of funny.

He made sure to snap a few photos. That’s payback for all the photos she’s taken of _him_ while he’s slept.

At least she looks good. He never had that advantage.

“Well-rested now?” He asks her now as they head towards the airport exit. They’re planning on scouting out some place to get breakfast in the area to kill some time before they had to board their next flight in just over two hours. Between the fact that 3 AM is an awkward period between hunger and satisfaction and that they slept for most of the journey to Seattle, neither of the two had eaten for the day. Scott had to admit, he was starving when he woke up about an hour before landing. He couldn’t fall back asleep, but he didn’t want to get food either.

So now, he’s super hungry.

Tessa gently rubs the back of her neck. “Sorta. My neck is killing me though.”

“I bet. You fell asleep kinda weirdly.”

She stops walking and turns her blazing gaze towards Scott. “Why didn’t you move me?”

He shrugs, knowing that it might not be the best idea to respond with how he didn’t move her mostly because of how hilariously contorted she looked. He thinks about maybe going the I-didn’t-want-to-disturb-you route to avoid unleashing his least favourite side of Tessa, but as he opens his mouth, she’s already speaking once again.

“Oh my God. You thought it was funny.”

“No, I—”

“Of course you did.” Tessa groans and brings her palms to her temples, pulling at the skin roughly before pointing a finger at him. “You’re literally the worst.”

Scott winces. “Ouch.”

“Messing with me when I’m tired is at your own discretion, Moir.”

 

**_IHOP, Seattle, USA_ **

**_9:23 AM, PDT_ **

They settled on an IHOP just short of a 10 minute drive from the airport. It wasn’t that hard of a decision; he knows Tessa is set to go anywhere that serves eggs, and Scott loves anywhere that she does. He isn’t really all that picky, but a stack of pancakes do sound pretty good to him right about now.

As predicted, Tessa goes for the basic eggs/toast/sausage combo, while Scott decides on strawberry-banana pancakes.

While they’re waiting for their food, Tessa pulls out her phone and does a bit of furious tapping. Scott wonders what she could possibly be doing; replying to fans on Instagram? Texting her mom? Looking over her new assignments for school?

He’s snapped out of his thinking as soon as Tessa looks up at him, her brow arched.

“What?”

“Well, you wanted a bucket list, let’s go. I have a Doc ready, I can share it with you or—”

Scott chuckles. “Oh, no, no, no. If we’re doing this, we’re going all out.”

His partner’s face immediately flushes. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“Nope.” He makes sure to pop the ‘p’ as loudly as he can. He knows that Tessa is a bit more of a minimalist who prefers to work in silence, but he _really_ doesn’t want to make a bucket list on a damn Google Doc.

That’s boring.

“You see,” Scott begins in a serious tone, leaning forward in his seat. He places his elbow on the table and rests his chin on his fist. He’s using every nerve in his body to not break out into laughter at the way Tessa is looking at him right now. “You obviously do not understand the art that is the Bucket List. This isn’t just something you type up in Times New Roman and go. We’re treating this like it’s a scrapbook page assignment and we’re trying to get an A.”

Tessa leans further into the back of the booth, crossing her arms over her chest. “This is weird, even for you.”

“But…?”

“But,” Tessa hesitates, grimacing as she brings her voice to a rushed whisper. “I kinda like it.”

“Oh sorry, I don’t think I quite heard you. Do you mind repeating that?”

“Shut up.” Tessa returns her attention to her phone once again.

Scott has to bite his lip to keep from chuckling over how miserable the woman looks. She begins to tap her screen again, more quickly this time, and he wonders what she could possibly be doing after he _just_ said to put the Doc away.

He silently observes Tessa and the way she pulls the corners of her lips to the left and right, something she does when she’s trying to figure something out. Her eyebrows come together and then separate, then come back together again like they’re performing some sort of ballet. But Scott’s concentration is broken as the duo’s food arrives at their table, and his mind reboots to focus solely on diving head first into the stack of pancakes.

He’s sure Tessa is thinking the same about her eggs.

“So,” she mumbles once the waiters have left their table, a fork in her hand. “There’s a Michael’s about 10 minutes from here, we can stop there before we head back to the airport.”

Scott lets out a booming laugh, earning a few stares from surrounding customers. “Amazing.”

Tessa shakes her head at the man sitting across from her, a smile spreading like wildfire on her face.

 

_**On the Plane** _

_**2:32 PM, PDT** _

“I have to say, this is a pretty good list we have, Scott. I can’t believe we came up with this in less than six hours.”

The oversized piece of cardstock that sits on Tessa’s lap is full of colourful scribbles and doodles, and even a little bit of glitter. She thinks it looks a bit like a third grader’s art project, but the youthful energy it holds makes her feel some sort of way.

Nostalgic, but in a really good way.

She feels like a kid again.

“ _Pretty_ good? Tess, this is _legendary_ .” Scott emphasises. He pauses, a quick laugh of disbelief escaping his lips. “ _I_ can’t believe you didn’t even want to do this.”

“Well, I’m doing it now, so…?”

Scott shakes his head at Tessa, long wisps of hair consequently falling across his forehead. It makes Tessa giggle, and he smiles as he rakes his fingers through it.  

After a few moments of silent admiration for their work, Scott turns towards his best friend.

“You ready to do this?”

“Yep.” She smiles at the paper in front of her, and carefully draws a red check mark in the first small, black box at the top of the page, right next to ‘ _Make a Bucket List_.’

When she looks over at Scott a few moments later, he’s staring down at the colourful page, eyes wildly moving in a way that makes her think he’s trying to take it all in. He looks almost 12 years old, face aglow with hope and excitement for what’s to come.

Tessa can’t wait.

And she knows the goofy grin on her face as she watches her partner isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

When Scott meets her gaze, he scrunches up his face in exaggerated happiness.

She laughs before letting her own eyes roam the paper as Scott’s just did, his handwriting bringing all of the odd-numbered items to life while hers add joy to the even ones.

A few beats of quiet pass before Tessa speaks, her voice a mere whisper.

“One down, 49 to go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #1 = complete. Only time will tell where the other 49 will take them.


	2. #2: Go Jump Off a Cliff

**_May 29, 2019_ **

 

**_IHOP, Seattle, USA_ **

**_9:37 AM, PDT_ **

“You know what would be awesome?” Scott says, his mouth full of strawberry-banana pancakes.

“You chewing your food before you speak?” Tessa teases from the other side of the booth, the corner of her lips lifting in mockery.

“Ha ha.” He emphasizes each sound before obliging, quickly chewing and swallowing his food.

He cuts another piece off of the tall stack, dragging it around in the syrup (not maple, to his disappointment) pooling at the sides of his plate before shoveling it into his mouth.

Tessa occasionally glances up from her own plate to watch Scott, nibbling the crisp crust off of her first piece of toast before eating the buttery center.

As Scott goes to carefully chisel a third piece of pancake, she decides to speak up.

“Okay, so are you going to say what you’re thinking or…?”

“Why don’t you go jump off a cliff?” He snaps.

Tessa is taken aback. “What?”

 _What the hell was that for?_ she wonders.

“Go jump off a cliff.” Scott speaks more slowly, enunciating each word as though they are individual darts being thrown at a target. His face is as solid as stone.

A strange sense of guilt ripples throughout Tessa’s chest.

“Scott—”

“No, I mean that should be number two for the list. Cliff jumping.” Scott beams at Tessa, and she resists the urge to kick his shin under the table.

“Wow, hilarious.” She shakes her head. “Wait, number two? What was number one?”

“Number one was making the actual list, T. I said this, like, right at the beginning.” Scott looks at her as though she’s completely lost her mind.

Tessa internally scolds herself. “Right, sorry”

“Losing the majority of your memory storage capabilities at only 30 years old, a true tragedy.” Scott clicks his tongue, shaking his head disapprovingly. He returns to his pancakes, carefully trimming away at them as though they were a block of stone and he had to chisel the perfect statue.

Tessa rolls her eyes and sighs deeply.

“Anyway, cliff jumping actually sounds really fun. I’d love to do that. We just have to figure out where to go.”

“Good.” Scott doesn’t even look up from his plate.

“Honestly, that seems more like something I’d suggest, not you.”

Now, he does look up. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Tessa shrugs, cutting into one of her sausage links. “I’m actually surprised I didn’t say it first.”

“Well, Virtch,” Scott lifts his fork and points it a her. “You snooze, you lose.”

“I’m counting this one as my contribution. You can do the next one.”

“Fine, but only because I have another really good idea.”

  


**_July 24, 2019_ **

 

**_Tessa’s home, London, Canada_ **

**_7:26 AM, EST_ **

S: _Can you please hurry up, I’ve literally been outside for almost half an hour._

S _: And I’ve been without air conditioning for over half of that time_

_S: I’m going to die of heat stroke before we even get to go anywhere_

T: _I’m COMING!!!!!! Give me a minute_

S: _I’ve given you 30 of them though_

T: _*eye roll emoji*_

T: _I’m coming out in 3_

T: _2_

T: _1_

Tessa bursts through her front door, beach bags stacked up her arms like colourful bangles as she throws her hands up in the air, a huge smile on her face. The floral red maxi dress she’s wearing ripples in the humid breeze.

Scott laughs and shakes his head, and she mimes his laughter before turning around to triple check that the door is locked.

She walks over to the car, opens the back door and places her bags carefully on the seat before slamming it shut and making her way to the passenger seat.

“Good morning. Cool dress,” Scott greets, dragging out the ‘o’ in ‘good.’

“Thanks!” Tessa exclaims happily as she closes the door and buckles her seatbelt.

He hands her a small Tim Horton’s paper bag containing a toasted bagel before reversing out of the driveway. “You seem really happy given how early it is.”

She laughs, breaking off part of the bagel and popping it into her mouth. “I downed, like, 5 shots of espresso this morning so I’m absolutely hyped and ready to go and not falling asleep on the way there but I consequently have to pee like every few minutes so this should make a fun trip, I’m really sorry in advance.”

“I can tell,” Scott lifts an eyebrow. “I don’t think you breathed at all during that entire time you spoke. Also, you’re bouncing your leg really fast, which you only do when you drink too much coffee. I can _just_ see it in my peripheral and it’s annoying.”

Tessa ceases the movement of her leg, pouting as she twists her mouth to the left and right.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Why did you ask me to get coffee if you already drank espresso?”

“I wasn’t really planning on it when you called, it was more of a last minute decision and at that point I completely forgot I had asked you to get me some.”

“I see.” Scott slows the vehicle as they approach a red light, turning to the passenger side of the car once they’re completely stopped.

“Anyway, you’ve officially broken your long-standing, perfectly-on-time streak. We’re almost half an hour behind schedule.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry,” Tessa says quickly, holding down her leg when she finds that she’s bouncing it once again.

“Is everything okay? Like, I joke but also usually _you’re_ waiting for _me_ when I have to pick you up, not the other way around.”

“Yeah, I just...had a minor issue.”

“Really?” Scott faces the road ahead as the vehicle recommences its journey. “And what would that be?”

Tessa grimaces as she thinks back to the morning.  


**_Earlier that morning - 6:43 AM, EST_ **

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

“Shit!”

She runs through the hallway and stops at the threshold to her kitchen, screaming at the sight of black smoke dancing its way to the ceiling like a cobra charmed by the smoke alarm.

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

“Shit! Shit! Shit!”

Tessa doesn’t know what to attend to first: does she turn off the smoke alarm? Does she fan the smoke away? Does she do something with the frying pan? Does she just throw everything away?

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

“Shit!”

She decides to go through it all in that order.

Tessa grabs the long pole leaning in the corner of her kitchen, specifically for shutting off the smoke alarm that goes off way too often. She positions herself beneath it, and repeatedly jabs the stick upwards in hopes of having at least one attempt hit the ‘stop’ button.

It takes a few tries and what she thinks are a couple of dents in the ceiling before it stops.

It isn’t until it’s off that she realizes that she probably should have turned the stove off first.

“SHIT!” She whips her head around to the stove, eyes wide at the increasing amount of smoke coming from the pan. She coughs her way through the thickening smoke and flicks the burner off, removing the pan from the place it sat.

What the hell does she do with it now?

It’s then that her phone rings, Scott’s photo lighting up her screen to indicate that it’s him that’s calling. Panicking, she throws the pan into the sink and turns towards the island where the phone sits. She answers the phone in the calmest tone she can conjure.

“Hello?”

Tessa tries to ignore the increasing volume of sizzling happening in her sink, not even daring to turn around to see the catastrophe happening behind her.

That’ll just make her panic more.

For now, she has to act like everything is normal.

“Hey, T!” the sound of Scott’s voice instantly slows her heart rate. “I’m just leaving. I’ll be at your place in about 15 minutes?”

She hears some shuffling in the background, followed by the chime of keys and the starting of an engine.

“Yeah, great!”

Not great. Not at all.

How the hell is she going to clean this up in _15 minutes_?

“I might stop at Tim’s on the way, depending on how quickly I can plow through traffic. Want something?”

Her stomach growls in response, deprived of the egg it was expecting to receive.

“Yes please. Grab me a bagel? And get some Timbits for the journey, obviously.”

“Well, duh.”

“See you soon!” She isn’t too bad at acting now, is she?

“Oui, oui.”

Once she hangs up, Tessa silently hopes that what she faces when she turns around isn’t all that bad.

And technically, it isn’t bad.

It’s horrific.

Blackness rises from her sink, hovering over the room as though it’s waiting for the perfect moment to swoop down and attack her.

“Oh my god.”

And with that, Tessa is running around to make sure every window on the main floor is thrown open. A magazine flat in each hand, she dances through her kitchen, fanning the smoke out of the windows.

Once the pan finally stops spewing smoke, Tessa knows that it has to go.

Can she throw it out yet? Is it still too hot?

Maybe she should just leave it there.

That’s a problem for a later time.

Her phone _pings!_ to alert her of a text, and she knows without even looking that it must be Scott saying he’s here.

So, Scott is outside.

Her eggs are so burnt, they’re ashes now.

Even her frying pan is completely blackened, and the finish is peeling off.

She isn’t dressed yet.

Her hair is a mess.

She is nowhere close to being ready.

 _Good thing I packed my beach bag last night_ , Tessa thinks to herself.

When she unlocks her phone, she sees that it is in fact a message from Scott, sent at 7 AM.

S: _Here! Are you proud of my for finally being on time for once?_

Of course, the one time he decides to be on time is the same time her luck decides to vanish.

T: _Yep, so proud :)_

T: _Mind giving me a few more minutes?_

S: _That’s fine. I’ll be here_

S: _Waiting_

S: _And waiting…_

T: _Oooookay_

Once again, Tessa doesn’t know where to go first.

She decides on staying in the kitchen and brewing herself some espresso while she attempts to clean up all the burnt...everything...on her stove and counter.

And maybe light a candle or 10 in the process to mask the smell.

5 shots of espresso, a short nervous breakdown, and a shower later, Tessa is finally out the door, walking over to the car, in which Scott has been waiting for her for 30 minutes.

She owes him big time.  


**_Now - 7: 40 AM, EST_ **

“And what would that be?”

“I just, uh,” Tessa turns her hands over and over, searching the palms and backs of her hands for an answer. “My sunscreen. I couldn’t find it. You know how easily I burn, I can’t go without it. Especially on a day like today.”

“You literally could have just used mine.”

“I need, like, SPF 10,000. You know this. You probably use the lowest SPF sunscreen.”

“Okay, points made.”

The rest of the car ride is filled with laughter, random conversation, the occasional singing of a country song at the top of their lungs, and attempts at throwing Timbits into each other’s mouths.

It’s like they’re kids again.

  


**_The Grotto, Tobermory, Canada_ **

**_12:06 PM, EST_ **

“Hm.” Scott squints his eyes as he looks over the edge of the cliff, focusing on the calm, translucent waters below.

The surface sparkles like a sea of sapphires under the bright sun.

Scott thinks the beauty of what awaits below is misleading; it only makes what they’re about to 0.1% less terrifying, if that.

“What?” Tessa turns around to face him.

“Oh, nothin’.” He kicks around at a few pebbles on the ground before plastering the biggest smile on his face that he can conjure in a moment where his heart is beating four times as fast as it normally does.

Tessa raises a brow at Scott, her arms crossing over her chest.

“What?” He tries to act as though he has absolutely no idea what’s about to unfold.

He knows, alright.

“It’s my turn to use the line on you: can’t lie to someone you’ve known for three-quarters of your life.”

“And it’s my turn to say: stop.”

“If you say so,” Tessa sings, walking away from the edge.

Scott releases the huge breath he was holding, closing his eyes before peering over the edge again.

“Holy shit.”

“Mhm, there it is,” he hears Tessa mumble from behind him.

Scott turns around and walks over to where she’s standing.

“You know what,” Scott claps his hands together to get her attention. “Now that we’re here, I’m starting to realize that this isn’t really my thing. I’ll stick to gliding around on the ground in knife shoes, and you keep throwing yourself into the air. Or just being in the air in general. You like that stuff, you’ve been doing it for 22 years. Fine with me.”

“You’re babbling,” Tessa says matter-of-factly.

“You’re babbling.” Scott mocks.

Tessa puts her hands on his shoulders, her voice softening. “We don’t have to go through with this, you know. Like you said.”

He rolls his eyes. “No, we _have_ to. It’s on the list.”

“Okay, but is it worth it if you’re going to throw up on the way down?”

Scott runs his hands over his forehead. “First of all, _gross_ . Second of all, yes, completely worth it. Once you skip over one, you’re gonna want to skip over them all, and then it’ll never get done. What’s the fun in that? Then it’s like you created the whole list for nothing. For _nothing_.” He throws his hands into the air for emphasis.

“Okay, well about 20 seconds ago you just said you didn’t think this was your thing.”

“‘Not my thing’ and ‘will never ever, ever participate in’ are two completely different categories.”

“They sound the same to me.” Tessa shrugs.

“Let’s just get this over with before I _do_ in fact throw up.”

Scott grabs hold of Tessa’s hand, making her shriek in surprise as he runs towards the edge of the cliff before stopping.

“Hey! At least warn me first!”

“That would make it less fun.”

“I wasn’t ready!” She whines.

“Okay, are you ready now?” Scott turns and looks towards the woman beside him.

Tessa nods. “Yes.”

“Cool. Now before I change my mind...on the count of three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

And with that, the duo is flying through the air, hand in hand, as they plunge into the water 30 feet below.

It all happens kind of in slow motion for Scott.

There’s the moment their feet first leave the edge, their legs climbing imaginary steps as they reach their maximum height.

He sort of regrets it at first.

Then, there’s the falling.

Tessa’s eyes squint as she laughs the hardest he’s seen her laugh in a while.

It’s contagious; despite the bundle of nerves threatening to strangle him, Scott finds himself laughing as they descend towards the water sparkling below them.

Watching Tessa laugh and feeling his own chest expand and contract with laughter brings a sense of serenity to his mind, just as their bodies cut through the clear water.

Once they both rise to the surface, Tessa is the first to speak.

“Now, was that so bad?” She asks as she pulls at strands of hair stuck to her face.

“It was absolutely terrible. Let’s do it again.”

She throws her head back and laughs again. It echoes off the caves to pierce the fresh air around them.

He smiles at the sweet, familiar sound.


End file.
